I Should Tell You
by Caroline
Summary: [BoothBrennan] Temperance Brennan is handed a startling dose of reality where her relationship with Booth is concerned. COMPLETE!
1. Trusting Desire, Starting to Learn

TITLE: I Should Tell You  
AUTHOR: Caroline  
KEYWORDS: Booth/Brennan, angst  
RATING: T  
SUMMARY: Temperance Brennan is handed a startling dose of reality where her relationship with Booth is concerned.

* * *

"Booth, I wanna come with!"

"No way, Bones." Seeley Booth spun in the doorway of his partner's office at the Jeffersonian, his hands landing on his hips. "This guy is _extremely _dangerous. _Armed _and extremely dangerous, actually."

Temperance Brennan raised her eyebrows pointedly. "Well, this is where having a gun would really help me out."

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I am not having this discussion with you again."

"Discussion?" she balked, her hands widespread and palm-up while she followed Booth out of her office, neither noticing the triplet stares they were receiving. She began to gesticulate wildly... half aiming for his head out of pure spite. "More like an argument! You tell me I can't have a gun because it's not safe, and then you won't let me come to catch the bad guys with you because it's not safe, even though if you _gave_ me a gun, I _would_ _be _safe! You can be _so_ stubborn sometimes!"

"Bones, just because you raise your voice at me and call me stubborn doesn't make your side of the argument a good one." Though they were glowering at each other on the way out, Booth still held the door open for her. "Besides, if anyone's stubborn, it's you."

Their voices carried all the way down the hall, even through the thick glass doors as they continued to argue, and Zack, Hodgins, and Angela all exchanged wide-eyed glances. "What... exactly was that?" Zack asked, eyes trained on the exit path of the bickering partners.

Hodgins clapped the young man on the back of the neck. "Zacko, I believe we have just been witness to a marital spat."

"Jeez..." Angela sighed, shaking her head. "Something needs to happen to push those two together... and quick. Otherwise, _I'll _get a gun and I'll shoot 'em both."

* * *

"Bones, you are NOT coming with me! End of discussion!"

"Again, not a discussion. Booth, you know that I'll look out for myself! Why won't you let me come with? This guy can't be THAT dangerous, I mean I've handled myself quite well in plenty of dangerous situations--"

"That's not it, Bones!" he exclaimed, agitatedly shoving his hands through his hair, causing it to stand up in angry tufts here and there. He glared at her when she climbed into the passenger seat of his SUV, though he said nothing.

"Then what exactly IS it, Booth? I'm tired of you playing alpha male with me!"

"Goddammit Bones! I don't want you to go because--" He stopped midsentence and just stared.

She defiantly stuck up her nose in challenge, folding her arms across her chest. "Because why?"

He huffed, then lowered his voice, leaning slightly across the console to stare her down... getting his point across over the rims of his shades. "Because if anything happened to you on my watch, it would kill me. Okay?" He leaned back and thrust the key into the ignition, revving the engine before shifting gears and pulling out into D.C. traffic. "_That's_ why."

Brennan gulped as she studied him... the tension in his features, the white knuckles gripping the steering wheel. He was wound so tight that when she reached out to touch his arm, he visibly jumped. She jerked her hand back as if burnt. "I'm sorry, Booth."

He grunted in response, keeping his eyes on the road... and she sighed. "Look, if you don't want me to go... then I won't. And I'll respect your wishes next time you tell me I can't go with you."

Booth glimpsed quick at her before changing lanes, and he shook his head. "Bones, I'm sorry. I do get a little... territorial sometimes--"

"And dominating, possessive..." she supplied.

He shot her a look. "Thank you." He sighed. "You can come with this time, but PROMISE me that you'll stay alert."

"Okay."

He pinned her with his stare. "Promise me, Temperance."

His rare use of her first name caused her eyes to widen, and she nodded slowly, almost whispering her vow. "I promise."

* * *

"Alright Agent Booth, we've got men positioned all around the warehouse, and in the adjacent buildings. If he makes one wrong move--"

"Tell them not to shoot," Booth instructed sternly, not at all concerned with the fact that he was telling his boss, Deputy Director Cullen, what to do. "We want him alive."

"Booth--"

"We want him alive," he repeated slowly, emphasizing each word. "He's no use to us dead. So tell them to stand down unless _I _give the orders to shoot."

"Fine." Cullen marched off, barking orders into the walkie-talkie in his hand.

Brennan appeared at Booth's side, peeking over his shoulder at the warehouse. "What do you want me to do, Booth?"

"I want you..." He spun around to face her and grasped her shoulders, steering her behind one of the FBI van's open back doors, "to stay right here. Don't step out from the van." When she raised her eyebrows, he squeezed her shoulders, "Please."

She caught the look in his eyes and nodded. "Alright." As she watched him spin on his heel and walk away, fastening his kevlar vest in place, she couldn't help but call out, "Booth, be careful!"

His nod was almost imperceptible as he made his way around the van to speak to one of the other officers. Brennan sighed and glanced at her surroundings, her entire body practically twitching with the effort of holding herself back for Booth's sake. When he disappeared from her sight, she decided that one little look at the scene wouldn't hurt anybody, so she stepped around the van's back doors.

A few steps forward and she could see the figure inside the warehouse, pacing fanatically. So this was the man that had bludgeoned their latest victim. She shook her head -- bastard. The young girl he murdered had been no older than fourteen. "Bones!"

She jumped at the sound of his voice, eyes going wide as she realized she'd been caught. He stepped in front of her, blocking her view of the warehouse with his body. "You promised me," he whispered, a glimmer of hurt in his eyes.

Was it _really _that big a deal? She studied him as he stepped slightly to the side. "I just wanted to look--"

"Booth, he's got Dr. Brennan in his sightlines and he's going to shoot!" Cullen shouted over the walkie-talkie.

"Shit! Bones..." He reached for her and banded his arms around her waist as gunfire went off, the two of them falling to the ground.

He had rolled them mid-descent so she wouldn't hit the pavement, and grunted as his back hit the coarse tar of the street. Brennan pulled away from him and her mouth gaped -- dark, crimson blood began to stain his crisp white dress shirt on the right-hand side of his abdomen. "Booth!"

On autopilot, she reached for his shirt buttons and undid them, spreading the shirt open to assess the damage. Copious amounts of blood were leaking from the small round bullet-hole, and his body began to jerk with the force of his pained breathing. "Oh, God..." he groaned, a mix of pain, panic, and shock showing in his eyes.

Brennan was certain the look in her own mirrored his. "Booth..." Her hand covered the wound of its own volition, panic seizing her and temporarily depriving her of her sense. She just wanted to stop the blood. "We need a medic, here!" She yelled over her shoulder.

"Bones..." His voice was hoarse, strained as he reached out to her, and she grabbed his hand without hesitation, tears springing to her eyes at seeing the look in his. "Temperance, I should--I should tell you..."

She shook her head frantically, fighting not to break down in tears. "Don't. Don't talk, it's okay. _I_ should tell _you_..."

He mirrored her head shake, still clinging to her hand. "I should tell you."

"You need your strength."

"I should tell you that I..." His voice trailed off as his eyes began to slip closed, and her own widened in panic.

She gripped his hand even tighter. "Booth, look at me! Seeley! Open your eyes and look at me."

With much effort, his eyes opened and locked on the tears in hers. He released her hand to reach, trembling, up to her face, cupping her cheek in his hand. Her own clamped onto his wrist as she continued to fight for composure. "Stay with me, Booth," she heard herself beg, as sirens cut through the air.

Paramedics rushed in, one of them gently prying her away from her partner while the others began to tend to Booth, getting him onto a gurney and hoisting him into the ambulance. The medic that had pulled her off Booth still held her arm, and stared down at her seriously. "Ma'am, we're going to need to treat you, too."

"What? Why?" Her eyes never left Booth, her hands instinctively reaching for him though she knew he was several feet away.

"You appear to have some head trauma."

It was then that Brennan reached up to her forehead and felt the blood. She must have hit something on the way down. However, her head wound seemed miniscule in comparison to what had happened to Booth. "I'm going with him." She nodded at the ambulance.

"Ma'am, if you'd just let us treat you here--"

Her eyes glinted a blue fire, her need to be at her partner's side overriding any kind of common sense. "I _said_ I'm _going with him_!"

The medic withered just a little under her stare, "Yes, ma'am," but didn't relinquish her arm. Instead, he helped her up into the ambulance and shut the doors, the vehicle immediately taking off for Bethesda hospital.

* * *

TBC

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **A big, huge, THANKS to everyone who sent such heart-warming reviews on 'Flicking the Switch'! I wanted to reply to all of them, but surprisingly, there were just so many! So, instead of individual replies, I am dedicating this story to all of you. Thanks so much for welcoming me into the Bones fandom! _

And yes, this fic was pseudo, half-assed inspired by the song, "I Should Tell You" from RENT. I just saw the movie and the some of the lyrics seemed to stick in my head as being so perfectly Booth & Brennan-esque. Chapter two will hopefully be finished soon!


	2. Walking Through Fire, Without a Burn

TITLE: I Should Tell You  
CHAPTER 2 of 2  
SUMMARY, AUTHOR'S NOTES, etc.: See chapter one.

* * *

"Guys, meet me out at the car..." Angela breezed into the autopsy bay, spotting Zack and Hodgins in the corner, racing beetles.

"What? Why?" Hodgins glanced up only briefly before looking down at the beetles and exclaiming, "Okay, that was SO cheating!"

"Filbert won, fair and square -- pay up." Zack patiently held out his hand, awaiting his payment.

"Pat has a lame left leg! It wasn't fair!"

"_Which _left leg? And he ran fine, just not fast enough. Pay up."

"Guys!"

They turned to see Angela looking impatiently at them, her hands on her hips as she worried her bottom lip with her teeth. Zack frowned. "Why do we have to meet you out at the car?"

"Because we're going to the hospital. Brennan just called in tears -- Booth was shot."

The beetles were then forgotten as the 'Squint Squad' rushed toward the parking lot.

* * *

_"We were able to successfully retrieve the bullet from Agent Booth's abdomen..."  
__  
"He's lucky to be alive..."_

_"Looks like a .22-calibur..."_

_"We're keeping him a few days for observation..."_

_"If it had struck so much as one more millimeter south..."_

_"Is there someone you can call to let them know..."_

_"He's been sedated, but you can go in and see him if you'd like..."_

_"Normally just family is allowed in, but since you're his partner..."_

_"Miss? We're going to have to check his heart monitor. Excuse me just a moment..."_

_"You're all bandaged up. You were lucky, it looks like something just grazed your forehead..." _

_"Let's clean all that blood off your hands..."_

_"You were both very lucky..."_

Voices ebbed and flowed through Temperance Brennan's stream of consciousness, though she heard only ambient background noise. Her eyes, the entire time, had been focused on her partner through the window, laid up in a hospital bed with tubes in his nose and needles in his arms. She only vaguely remembered a nurse bandaging her forehead and cleaning her hands before she was sent in to Booth's room.

Now she sat, in a hard, uncomfortable plastic chair, at his bedside... her hand gripping his for dear life while she let her eyes wash over him. She didn't even notice when the door opened behind her and someone stepped in. "Sweetie..."

She turned slowly, with puffy, tear-filled eyes, to see Angela... who then rushed toward her and wrapped her arms tight around her. "How did you get in here?" Brennan asked, still dazed.

Angela shrugged, the barest hint of a sly smirk playing at her lips. "I flirted with one of the male nurses and he let me right in. Zack and Hodgins weren't as successful with the female nurses, though, so they're outside." She then sobered and touched her friend's shoulder. "How are you doing, Sweetie?" Her eyes flitted to the white butterfly bandages on her forehead. "What happened to you?"

Brennan touched her forehead absently. "I don't know, exactly. They say something grazed my forehead on the way down, but I don't know what it was."

"No, I mean... what _happened_? To both you guys. What went on that resulted in Booth getting shot through the stomach?"

Brennan's mouth opened and closed several times in succession as she inwardly relived the moment, tears brimming her eyes and spilling over onto her cheeks as she finally broke down... "It's all my fault!"

"Honey..." Angela wrapped her arms around her again, hugging her tight. It wasn't often she saw Temperance Brennan cry -- only in times of extreme duress, or in times of trauma.

"He told me to stay back, but I wanted to look at the scene. I wanted to see for myself this guy we've been tracking." One hand still clung to Booth's, needing the physical connection, while she wept on Angela's shoulder. "He told me to stay back, Ange, but I didn't listen! I looked, and... Booth caught me. Before I knew what was happening, Cullen had said the guy was aiming his gun at me and was going to shoot. Booth grabbed me and threw me down... I think he flipped us on the way so I wouldn't hit the street, and when I pushed off him, I s--" She faltered, "I saw..." and then broke down in heart-wrenching sobs again.

"Oh God, Sweetie..." Angela rocked her best friend back and forth, as if comforting a child waking from a nightmare. She'd never seen her cry this hard -- it stunned her a little. Even when she was re-telling the story of her parents' disappearance, she didn't cry this hard.

"They say he's lucky to be alive," she whimpered, snuffling against Angela's shoulder. "One more millimeter south, and he'd be--he would be--"

"You don't have to say it, Honey." Angela pulled away and ran her fingers through Brennan's hair comfortingly, tears in her own eyes as she wiped her friend's saturated cheeks. "It's scary to even think it, I know."

"He almost died for me, Angela! For _me_!"

She nodded knowingly. "Yeah, I know." As Brennan rose to her feet to stand beside her, one hand still hanging on to her partner's, Angela swept a hand through her hair again. She watched the look that came over her friend's face as she studied the unconscious FBI agent in the bed. "He would do it again, too. You know he would." She sighed and rubbed Brennan's back, her voice soft. "He loves you, Sweetie. Booth loves you."

Brennan shook her head and dashed at her tears, folding her free arm across her midsection protectively. "No. No, I'm just his partner. He'd do the same thing for anybody else."

"I know you're in a lot of pain right now, Brenn, which is why I'm not going to start a big ruckus over this... because God knows we've talked it over enough times. Booth, Honey? _He loves you. _It has nothing to do with you being his partner, or with him wanting to look out for an innocent bystander. Seeley Booth is _in love_ with you." She gave her a little nudge, leaning close to her. "And you love him. I know you do."

She brushed the hair back that had fallen into her friend's face. "That's why you're so broken up about this. It was a traumatic experience, absolutely. It would be for anybody. But for someone you love to be shot..." She boldly pushed forward, knowing her words would shock, "To see them dying in front of you -- that person that you love -- to watch the life fade out of them before your eyes..." She trailed off and shook her head.

Brennan was silently weeping now, fat tears scudding down her cheeks as she stared at Booth. Her hand still clung to his for dear life. "He kept saying, 'I should tell you'--"

"That he loves you," Angela finished.

"I wouldn't let him. I kept telling him he needed his strength. I was so scared, but I wanted to tell him too..."

"It's not too late, Sweetie."

"I asked him to stay."

"Then he will. If it's _you_ asking Booth to stay, Sweetie, then he will without a second thought. He'll stay with you... and you'll get a chance to tell him what you should tell him."

Brennan gasped as she felt his hand shift inside her own, and Angela, too, seemed to spring to attention. Both leaned slightly over the bed as they watched his closed eyelids flutter with activity. His grip on her hand strengthened, and two brown eyes popped open.

When they did, they immediately settled on the teary blue gaze of Temperance Brennan. She chuckled at the sight of him, the sound emerging as a sob, while a joyous smile lit her features. "Booth..."

"Temperance..." Her first name spilled forth from his lips as a prayer to some unknown deity... a prayer for bringing him back to his _own_ deity. He squeezed her hand, eyelids still heavy. "You okay?"

Brennan chuckled another sob, and swiped at her tears with her free hand. "Yes."

He noticed Angela at Brennan's side for the first time, and smiled weakly at her. She smiled back and patted her best friend on the shoulder. "I'll leave you two alone," she sighed, and gestured over her shoulder with her thumb. "Zack and Hodgins are probably going stir-crazy in that waiting room, anyway." With that, she kissed Brennan's cheek, smiled at Booth, and made her exit, shutting the door behind her.

"How are you feeling?" Brennan asked once they were alone.

He gave a slight grunt of pain as he tried to shift himself to the left on his bed, leaving room for her. "I've definitely felt better," he replied, "but I'm alive, at least."

She nodded emphatically. "Yes, you are."

He patted the space on the bed beside him. "Have a seat, partner."

"I don't want to hurt you."

Booth chuckled, painfully. "Just don't sit on my stomach and I'll be fine." He tugged on her hand and drew her toward him, smiling as she sat beside him on the bed, tucking one leg up beside her while the other remained on the floor.

She stared into his eyes, searching them while her own misted over again. "You're really here..." she whispered, voice awed.

He nodded, then shrugged one shoulder. "Well, sure." He smiled. "You asked me to stay. So I stayed."

Brennan laughed tearfully and grasped his hand with both of her own, toying with his fingers. His played right back. "Your doctors said you were very lucky. If the bullet had hit you any lower..."

"Yeah, I can imagine."

"Our suspect is dead. As soon as he shot at us, one of the SWAT guys took him down."

"That's good, I guess. Since I probably would've shot him myself, once I got out of here, for ever going after you."

They locked in a stare again, and Booth's heart broke when he saw the tears slipping down her cheeks again. "I was so scared, Booth."

He nodded, vaguely remembering the look of panic on her face as she hovered over him. "So was I." He reached up to her face, just as he had earlier, and began to wipe the tears from her cheeks, smiling when she held on to his wrist.

"You almost died," she whimpered. "You almost died trying to save me."

His expression was solemn, intense, as he nodded slowly. "And I would do it again in a heartbeat."

She held his gaze. "Why?"

"Why?" he chuckled, then shook his head. "Oh, Bones, if you even have to ask... then you're not as smart as you think you are."

Brennan glared facetiously and reached out to swat his arm, but he caught her hand with his and brought it to his lips, their eyes catching as he gently kissed her knuckles. He mumbled against them, "I should tell you..."

She smiled and shook her head. "I should tell you."

A nurse bustled inside and interrupted their moment, "Excuse me, dears, but I need to check on Mr. Booth, here, and give him some more pain medication." She turned to Brennan, "and I'm sorry, hon, but visiting hours are over for tonight. We're unfortunately going to have to boot you outta here."

Booth simply shook his head. "No."

Both Brennan and the nurse looked to him in shock. The nurse raised her eyebrows. "Well, I'm sorry, but the rules are 'family only' after visiting hours."

He nodded. "I know, and," he gestured to Brennan using their joined hands, "this is my fiancee, Temperance. I'd like her to stay."

"Oh!" The nurse nodded profusely after readjusting his IV bag. "Of course, Mr. Booth. Of course she can stay. I apologize for the misunderstanding."

"No problem at all." He gave Brennan a winning smile, which she chuckled and rolled her eyes at.

"Now, I just need to give you a little more morphine, and you'll be off to dreamland in no time!"

Brennan smiled at this, then both of them watched as the nurse gathered up her things and left. She turned back to Booth with a quirked brow. "Fiancee, huh?"

He shrugged, his eyelids already drooping as he teased, "Well, unless you'd like to be thrown out of here, in which case I can just hit the call button..." He pretended to reach for it, and she grabbed his hand.

"Don't even think about it."

He sighed and closed his eyes, a dreamy smile playing at his lips. "Come sit on my other side," he beckoned, and she obeyed, moving around the bed to settle in on his uninjured side.

"Why?"

"Because..." He drew her against him, and she went willingly. "You're going to act as my teddy bear."

She laughed. "So does this mean you still sleep with stuffed animals?"

"That, Bones, is none of your business."

"But we're getting married. As your future bride, I think I have a right to know."

He barked a laugh right back. "Maybe after the wedding, I'll tell you." He paused, running his fingers through her hair as her head settled on his chest. "I never got to tell you..."

"And I really need to tell you..."

"But I should say it first."

"You need to know that--"

"I should tell you..."

When his voice trailed off and his breathing deepened, Brennan smiled against his chest. "I already know," she whispered to his slumbering form, snuggling into his side. "And I love you too."

There was nothing more to tell.

* * *

FINIS

* * *

_**Some more Author's Notes: **Okay, I TOTALLY wasn't planning on having this part finished so quickly, but it just spewed out of me (that sounds sort of gross, but you know what I mean!). I also wasn't planning on posting this so quickly, either, but you guys and all your nice reviews have just turned me into a great big mushball. I had to spoil you, since you've been so kind. I love you all, and Arianna? I do believe I will have my cookie now. (:giggles, holds out hand for cookie:)_

_More Bonesfics on the way, guys, I promise! I've got tons of ideas._


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